Chapter 115: Xi Ze's Melancholy and Bitterness

Chapter 115: Xi Ze's Melancholy and Bitterness

The moment Yu Sheng'an held Aphnora's hand, he couldn't help but feel a surge of complex emotions.

After painstaking efforts to demonstrate his sincerity, he had finally achieved a milestone.

He had to admit—the chain of suspicion among the gods of the multiverse was truly terrifying!

Upon closer reflection, it made sense.

Gods were different from the God of Magic.

The God of Magic derived power from magical knowledge. Even if their physical body perished, as long as their consciousness remained, their power would always follow.

To kill the God of Magic, one had to be prepared to pay a steep price—and even then, there might be no gain at all.

But gods were different.

A god’s power came from their Godhood, and driving that Godhood required Source Essence. These two were like firearms and bullets—powerful, yes, but ultimately external tools.

Anyone who killed a god could take their place, and the rewards were entirely predictable.

For example:

If Yu Sheng'an killed the God of Death and seized the Underworld Godhood, he would fully replace the God of Death’s role, gaining control of the Underworld and its endless legions of undead. His power could multiply countless times overnight.

Beyond the temptation of such benefits, the ideologies of the gods were also deeply opposed.

Most gods originated from different backgrounds. If customs could vary within ten miles, how much more so across entire domains?

Cultural differences alone could make their worldviews vastly divergent.

With ideological conflicts compounded by staggering incentives, it was no wonder the gods were trapped in a chain of suspicion.

Perhaps this was the price of godhood—and its tragedy.

Just like ancient emperors, wielding supreme power yet forever bound by solitude.

At this thought, Yu Sheng'an couldn’t help but question whether the Pantheon’s vision was too idealistic.

If even the Music God was this hard to win over, what if a few more… eccentric individuals joined? Would the group implode? Could it even function?

"Will you let go of my hand?"

Aphnora’s voice, tinged with irritation and a hint of bashfulness, snapped Yu Sheng'an out of his thoughts.

Glancing down, he realized that in his emotional reverie, he had been holding her delicate hand all this time.

And honestly—women really might be made of water. Her hand was so soft to the touch.

"You—"

Feeling Yu Sheng'an deliberately give her hand a little squeeze, Aphnora’s cheeks flushed. She yanked her hand back and shot him a glare, unable to shake the feeling that the more she tolerated him, the angrier she got—and the more she conceded, the more she felt cheated.

This guy was just… too much.

Did he really think I didn’t notice anything when we rode that bicycle last time?

"Hm?"

Just then, Yu Sheng'an suddenly turned his attention to the array of virtual screens beside them.

One of them, responding to his will, expanded to dominate the display.

Aphnora pursed her lips, suspecting he was just trying to divert her attention.

But when she looked, she saw that the Keville apprentice mage exam had already produced its first successful candidate.

Yet on the screen, the battle raged on.

Clearly, reality wasn’t a game—even after completing the mission, participants couldn’t just log out at will.

In the footage, a player manipulated an earth puppet, flattening it into a sheet to envelop an elderly, weakened beastman. Leveraging the puppet’s affinity with the earth, they dragged the beastman into the ground, suffocating him until he became fertilizer.

Then, the player burst out from the ground again, embracing a burly beastman warrior like a maiden throwing herself into her lover's arms.

Only, the moment he hugged the beastman, his neck abruptly snapped, his head folding backward.

A pitch-black double-barreled shotgun emerged from the severed neck, pressing against the beastman warrior's chin.

With a BOOM, amidst the curling black smoke, the beastman warrior seemed to have swallowed the barrel—his skullcap flew off, splattering red and green fluids into the air before raining messily onto the ground.

The scene was gruesomely bloody.

Even Yu Sheng'an, who was accustomed to players showing off their skills, was stunned by this display.

A flicker of admiration rose in his heart!

After all, how long had firearms been issued?

In less than a full day, someone had already devised such an unorthodox method—this level of creativity was absolutely top-tier.

Incidentally, this player was none other than Xi Ze, the congenital paralytic.

In truth, Yu Sheng'an had noticed Xi Ze long ago.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have specifically assigned the Sparda mission to him.

The more value Xi Ze demonstrated, the greater Yu Sheng'an’s interest grew… Perhaps it was time to intervene appropriately and nurture him.

Once this apprentice mage exam concluded, the next magic apprentice recruitment would soon follow.

At that time, he could inform Dandell to make an exception and admit him.

No—more accurately, the Magic Academy’s recruitment standards should be revised.

Whether healthy or disabled, all should be treated equally.

...

At this moment, Xi Ze likely couldn’t even dream that he had already caught the eye of the Internet God.

Right now, his mind held only one thought: kill every beastman in sight.

Amid the instinctive frenzy of battle, Xi Ze’s vision suddenly cleared—not a single green-skinned beastman remained.

He froze for a moment before realizing the fight was over.

The crudely built wooden village lay in ruins, a scene of utter devastation.

Beastmen corpses littered the ground, and only six earth puppets remained standing. Fortunately, the captain was still alive, which meant...

"Yay! Mission complete!"

"Insane!"

"Hahaha..."

Before Xi Ze could check the mission progress, his companions’ excited cheers already gave him the answer.

Hearing this, Xi Ze smiled, a faint sense of relief and satisfaction blooming in his heart.

"Thank you all for your help! But now isn’t the time to celebrate. Gather your loot, and we’ll celebrate properly once we’re back!"

Mananxi calmly called out, though the grin on her face was impossible to hide.

"Got it, Captain!"

The players obeyed, quickly looting the corpses and collecting their spoils before swiftly retreating to avoid being tracked by the beastmen’s shaman priests.

On the way back, Mananxi approached Xi Ze. "Are you a mage?"

Xi Ze chuckled. "No."

"A warrior?"

"No!"

Mananxi looked skeptical. With combat skills that strong, how could he be neither a mage nor a warrior? She found it hard to believe.

"Don’t believe me? A lot of people think I’m a mage. I wish I were, but I’m really not."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Interested in enrolling in the Magic Academy? Learning magic?"

"Me?" A trace of bitterness flickered at the corner of Xi Ze’s lips. "Impossible."

"Your combat skills are impressive—you must have trained hard, right? My mentor once said that even if such a soul isn’t powerful, it’s undoubtedly resilient. Here’s a secret: this year, all the Empire’s Magic Academies will expand their enrollment several times over. Maybe your soul strength wasn’t enough to learn magic before, but this year, your chances will be much greater."

Mananxi had clearly misunderstood something.

"Is that so? Then I’ll give it a try."

Xi Ze nodded, deliberately ending the conversation.

He didn’t want to explain too much.

Even less did he want a stranger he’d just met to learn the truth about his paralysis.

Thanks to the Internet God, he was already content with his current life.

As for the Magic Academy?

That kind of divine sanctuary on earth—how could a cripple like him ever be qualified to enter?